i agree that getting your stuff to have more perceivable volume is one of the keys to a good mixdown... but if someone isn't there yet, i'd much rather LISTEN to their material with a little bit lower overall loudness than LISTEN to somebody's squashed track

david

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love and puppies!

True. Hiding flaws by limiting on the master channel is uncool and easily perceivable.

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quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier

i used to slap on a limiter on my master, i took it off now; my mixing has improved

Yea but some people mix very well with a compressor/limiter on the master as well. That's more a personal preference in my opinion. But good tip anyway. Most of the people I know that compose with a limiter on the master have gained sufficient knowledge before they started putting a limiter on their master.

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Storyteller Website | Storyteller @ Facebook | Storyteller @ Beatport | Storyteller @ Soundcloud | Stephen J. Kroos - Europa (Storyteller Remix)
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quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier

true this

There are many views on mastering, how it should be done, when it is should be done.
Some even have mastering as a last chain in their creative part - like Rob Acid for example.
If we drop the term "mastering", and rather use the term finalizing - it will more true to the process we're trying to describe.
Mastering has always been the last resort to make changes to a finished mix. It's cheaper than remixing the whole track again, and fixing it there.
Ideally, you shouldn't need to do anything after you have mixed down - not as far as making the sort of changes you could (should) do at the mixing stage.
Slapping on a compressor, and a limiter to get more volume out of your mix, is ok. But unless you have some sort of creative compression going on, you should try to keep the mix as natural sounding as possible.
I'm sick of tracks where the wave form looks like a brick - where everything is squashed in you face.

cheers guys, some good info for me there. I had the impression that i could use a limiter to boost the overall volume once i had all my levels sorted. to me it sounds ok but im just a beginner so i dont think id spot the difference yet. ofcourse the people that matter will. i guess its just something that will improve with time.

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Originally posted by djandymac How do you go about it? which software hardware do you use? im not very good at it but i think i can get a fairly good sound by using a multi band limiter on my stereo out in my sequencer. Anyone got any tips for me ?

ok when it comes to mastering theres no trickery involved.all you need is some headphones and (simpley work your way through the track).untill you have removed all the glitches,and made suru all the leavels are right.this some times means making your components again.

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Originally posted by airwalker1 ok when it comes to mastering theres no trickery involved.all you need is some headphones and (simpley work your way through the track).untill you have removed all the glitches,and made suru all the leavels are right.this some times means making your components again.

No thats mixing down or even just correcting flaws and then mixing down. That isn't what people mean when they say mastering...

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quote:

Originally posted by airwalker1 ok when it comes to mastering theres no trickery involved.all you need is some headphones and (simpley work your way through the track).untill you have removed all the glitches,and made suru all the leavels are right.this some times means making your components again.

but if u mix down through headphones you arent gettin the sound you would get if listening through monitors are you ? in which case it might sound different when played through monitors than what it does through headpones ?

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Mastering is to make sure the track sounds just as good on all sound systems.

Even though we can do a decent mastering job ourselves, very few of us have the experience nor the equipment to do a real mastering job.

But we can for sure provide a good mixdown which is the most important thing.

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Originally posted by msz storyteller be a good guy and show us the powers of your hardware, export 16bars, 2 samples one mastered and non.

Sorry mate, just sold em and made 9000E, gonna go on world cruise now.

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Storyteller Website | Storyteller @ Facebook | Storyteller @ Beatport | Storyteller @ Soundcloud | Stephen J. Kroos - Europa (Storyteller Remix)
Anthony Mea - Get It On (Storyteller Remix)

quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier